In the case of many professions, it’s all for the money. You walk into work, do whatever it is your boss tells you to do, and go home satisfied that you’ve made money for your family. If you’re in the minority and lucky enough to have a profession you truly enjoy, however, then you do it for the love and the money. The ladder is most often the case for blogging. Bloggers love to write, and many have other jobs to supplement their blog. Many blogs don’t even make money, yet bloggers still want to know that they’re doing something that matters. They love it, but it’s hard not to ask that question: Is my blog really making an impact?

How to Gauge Whether Or Not Your Blog Is Making an Impression

Before trying to look at different factors and understand whether or not your blog is affecting someone, it’s important to understand what are not accurate signs. Below are a list of things that a blogger should know before getting down and losing hope:

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Comments aren’t everything. If no one is commenting on your blog, it doesn’t mean that people aren’t reading it. Someone might be a bit too shy or simply someone who doesn’t take the time to leave comments. In fact, many different researchers have found through Google analytics that only about 2 percent of readers leave comments.

Social media isn’t everything. This also isn’t the best indication of your impact. While it’s good to pay attention to the quality of your followers, sometimes these followers are only looking to increase their number. And the number of retweets or shares works in a similar fashion to your comments—not everyone takes the time.

Numbers aren’t everything. Google analytics really can’t tell you whether or not you’re having an affect on your readers. It can give you very valuable numbers, but it isn’t a good indicator regarding your impact. The number of clicks doesn’t necessarily mean that people care about what you’re writing, and your bounce rate doesn’t always mean that people don’t care. Certain types of “top 5” and “how to” posts always get a lot of clicks, but this doesn’t mean it’s impacting so much as entertaining.

The moral of the story is that it’s really difficult to gauge your blog’s impact because there aren’t concrete numbers that can help. However, it isn’t completely impossible.

Good Indicator of “Blogging for the Love” Success

I began writing this post without really knowing the answer to my question, so I set out to discover that others really didn’t seem to know the answer either. However, I did find an article by Mark Schaefer of Grow that seemed to give me the clearest pictures: Talk with your readers.

Go out and ask your readers what they think of your blog. If you’re writing very thought-provoking posts, ask your readers to give you feedback. The more connections you make the better. In many cases, you’d be surprised how many positive responses you get.

The second piece of advice I can give is to not worry so much about if you’re making an impact. Blogging, especially if you’re blogging because you love it, isn’t always about trying to please everyone with a “how to” post. If you find something impacting, chances are someone else does too. If you spend your time trying to please everyone, you might lose your love of blogging.

What are your thoughts on your blog’s impact? Let us know in the comments below.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a graduate of Illinois State University. Although she graduated with an English Education degree, she found herself working as a full-time blogger at Highervisibility, nationally recognized as one of the best seo firms in the country. Connect with HigherVisibility on Twitter to learn more!

I definitely fall into the category of blogging for love. I simply love sharing ideas and information that strikes me as useful and/or important, though sometimes just for the fun of it. I promote each of my blog postings as group discussions on LinkedIn and Facebook. Though I only receive a comment or two, they have been very gratifying. It’s nice to know that I’m touching people out there.

As an interesting aside, some time back I noticed quite a few subscribers with emails ending in .pl. Being curious by nature, I investigated. Turns out that my blog is a raging success in Poland. Ya gotta love it!